EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR UNDERWORLD

It was to him preposterous, for she was one of that underworld against which he was ruthlessly at war.

She died of the sting, and was lost to him in the Underworld.

He would also conduct through his underworld any one who had the leisure and inclination.

It means what it meant to Orpheus when he followed Eurydice to the underworld.

"Well, let us get busy with the underworld of Japan," Jack said.

It could not be Underworld jargon; it was too direct and at the same time too picturesque.

Yours was the attitude of the drinking ne'er-do-wells of the underworld.

The forest, he fancies, is the place of the dead, the underworld.

Stories of the underworld are among the most difficult to write.

No wonder that it was both feared and hated by the citizens of the underworld of crime.

WORD ORIGIN

c.1600, "the lower world, Hades," also "the earth," as distinguished from heaven. Cf. German unterwelt, Dutch onderwereld, Danish underverden. Meaning "lower level of society" is first recorded 1890; "criminals and organized crime collectively" is attested from 1900.